A mobile communications network is defined as any communications network that has over-the-air data/voice transmissions between a mobile client device (i.e. a handset, computer, mobile router, etc.) and a network base station (i.e. Access point, cell site, etc.). Common commercial examples include Wi-Fi networks, and 2G, 3G, 4G (LTE) and upcoming 5G cellular networks. In such networks the endpoint of the network, the network base station, provides the entry point into the network. It converts the over-the-air communications with the mobile client device into wired communications back into the network using technologies such as Ethernet and IP.
When subscribers complain of poor service, it may be difficult to isolate the cause of the problem in such a complex network. Although service providers have developed strategies for diagnosing problems in the backhaul and core networks, their tests cannot determine that the cause of a network performance problem is in the over-the-air portion of the network. Test handsets have been developed that can simulate traffic over-the-air, but the traffic is end-to-end, requiring response from the core network. The tests performed by the test handsets do not have the ability to isolate a problem within the over-the-air portion of the network.